Sold Luminary Octaver v1 Walrus Audio Price reduction to £130.00 £145 NN7 4PA

[Skinner]

 Now sold. Luminary v1 Octaver from Walrus Audio, with 4 octaves (2 up and 2 down) all variable with wet dry blend attack, filter, flutter controls and 3 presets. Incredibly versatile Octaver in absolutely pristine condition, completely unmarked with Velcro underneath, only selling as I have a Roland vbass for most of my digital effects duties. Takes a standard pedal 9v centre negative power source. UK insured postage will cost £8.00

Could be tempted by a tidy mxr bass octave deluxe or ebs octabass studio edition with some dosh my way.

Luminary by Walrus Audio

Walrus Audio’s new Luminary pedal is a very cool polyphonic pitch shifter with built-in Attack, Flutter (tremolo), and Filter (EQ) controls. In addition, the Luminary features one of the most intuitive control layouts I’ve yet reviewed.

The interface is about as simple as they come, and about as useful as well: four knobs control the level of the pitch shifting over four octaves. I love the Luminary’s control knobs, and not only because they are of the somewhat expensive, machined-metal variety. Each pitch channel features its own level knob. If I wanted to add in just a bit of low end and a whole lot of high end, I could dial in the “-2” octave knob to, say, 10 o’clock and the “+2” octave knob to three o’clock. The separate level knobs for each octave channel really allow for the sort of sonic experimentation which other, more limited pedals, might restrict.

The Luminary also sounds fantastic, and is capable of producing a lush, nearly orchestral wall of sound which will take a simple chord and transform it into something grand. It was fun to add in some octave up and two octave up tones to the mix and play something akin to a creepy melody for children—the sort of thing that a horror film might include on its soundtrack. Alternatively, the Luminary could produce a less creepy but equally compelling version of the pitch-shifted opening to Radiohead’s “My Iron Lung.”

The Luminary really shined when its Attack and Flutter settings came into play. With Attack up around 10 o’clock, the Luminary seemed to reverse my signal, such was the effect of the signal swelling it introduced. Adding more Attack produced a more gradual swelling which seemed to function in direct proportion to the input level. Hard strumming, for example, would trigger a new swell with each hard down stroke. A bit of Flutter added in transformed the pitch-shifting pedal into a chorus-like pedal. But with more Flutter, the pitch-shifted tones began to flutter as if they had passed through a tremolo circuit.

Turning up the Filter knob lets the higher pitches ring through, while turning it down transforms the output to a chorusy, watery, and organ-like sound. The closest sound I can think to describe is the final few bars in Nirvana’s “Come as You Are,” when the distorted, chorus-effected guitars ring out. When I added in a bit of low end, and set the Filter knob to bypass the higher frequencies, the Luminary produced a sound that reminded me of an underwater pipe organ. This setting was probably the most fun to play with, particularly because the texture of the sound was so interesting.

The Luminary also features three presets, each of which is extremely easy to set. Once the Preset switch has been tapped, the pedal can cycle through the three settings with an additional tap for each one. Helpfully, the LED just next to the footswitch has a specific color associated with each setting. Some people might prefer an absurd number of programmable presets, perhaps something like 128, but for most people, the Luminary’s humble three will be more than adequate.

The Luminary is a cool little polyphonic pitch shifter which ought to gain adherents. I imagine that many people who want to fill out their band’s mix will find a use for the pedal. After all, why resort to old strumming patterns when you can produce organ-like chord swells? It’s a great addition to the company’s already fantastic line of pedals, and would make a solid addition to pedalboards across the land.

What We Like:

Excellent polyphonic pitch shifting combined with a highly intuitive control layout. Additional settings include swelling (Attack), a low-pass filter (Filter) and a tremolo (Flutter).

Concerns

None.

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Skinner
Sold

[Hanry]

Damn, that looks tasty - I am saving on an HX Effects since that seems to make people happy here... but to be honest, most of what I want is the control for octave sounds, and Walrus have done beautifully...

I shall go into the music room and meditate!

Just to check - PSU comes with it?
Thanks,
Hanry

[Skinner]

No power supply but takes a standard 9v

Edited August 2, 2020 by Skinner
Text amended

[Shroombass]

Would you be interested in an EBS Bass Wah One?

[Skinner]

Thanks for the offer but got filters and wah well covered, might be interested in a mxr bass chorus deluxe or similar.

Now Sold.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Skinner
SOLD